Abstract
Drought is one of the major environmental stressors that significantly limits the germination, seedling growth, and productivity of cotton, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. Recently, nanopriming has emerged as a novel and environmentally friendly seed treatment strategy to enhance plant resilience to drought stress. This study investigated the efficacy of nanopriming with Fe3O4 and ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) incorporated into cellulose microfibres (CMF) in improving drought tolerance of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) under osmotic stress induced by polyethylene glycol (PEG). CMF extracted from cotton stalk residues was used as a sustainable carrier for Fe3O4 and ZnO NPs, yielding Fe/CMF and Zn/CMF composites. Cotton seeds were primed with Fe/CMF (50 and 100 ppm), Zn/CMF (150 and 200 ppm), and a non-primed control, and exposed to three water regimes (0%, 10%, and 15% PEG) to simulate increasing drought severity during germination and early seedling establishment. A comprehensive set of germination, growth, physiological, and biochemical traits was evaluated, including germination percentage, mean germination time, seedling vigour index, root and shoot growth, relative water content (RWC), proline accumulation, oxidative stress markers (malondialdehyde and hydrogen peroxide), and antioxidant enzyme activities (SOD, POD, and CAT). Nanopriming, particularly with 50 ppm Fe/CMF and 200 ppm Zn/CMF, significantly enhanced germination performance, seedling vigour, and biomass accumulation under moderate and severe PEG-induced drought stress. Moreover, nanoprimed seedlings maintained higher RWC, exhibited strongly upregulated antioxidant enzyme activities, accumulated greater proline levels, and showed marked reductions in lipid peroxidation and hydrogen peroxide content, indicating improved osmotic adjustment, redox homeostasis, and membrane stability under drought conditions. These results demonstrate that CMF-mediated delivery of Fe3O4 and ZnO NPs effectively mitigates drought-induced physiological and oxidative constraints during early cotton establishment, highlighting Fe/CMF and Zn/CMF nanopriming as a promising, sustainable strategy for enhancing early-stage drought tolerance in cotton-based production systems.
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Claims 6
Claim · model-written summary
Nanopriming with 50 ppm Fe/CMF significantly enhanced germination performance, seedling vigour and biomass accumulation under moderate and severe PEG drought relative to non-primed control
- Taxon
- Gossypium hirsutum L.
Gossypium hirsutume3 - Organ / stage
- seedlinge1
- Treatment
- 50 ppm Fe/CMFe0
- Outcome
- germination performance, seedling vigour, and biomass accumulatione0
- Direction
- enhancede0
- Qualifier
- under moderate and severe PEG-induced drought stresse0
- Comparator
- non-primed controle1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Nanopriming, particularly with 50 ppm Fe/CMF and 200 ppm Zn/CMF, significantly enhanced germination performance, seedling vigour, and biomass accumulation under moderate and severe PEG-induced drought stress”
e1“and a non-primed control, and exposed to three water regimes (0%, 10%, and 15% PEG) to simulate increasing drought severity during germination and early seedling establishment”
e3“improving drought tolerance of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.)”
Claim · model-written summary
Nanopriming with 200 ppm Zn/CMF significantly enhanced germination performance, seedling vigour and biomass accumulation under moderate and severe PEG drought relative to non-primed control
- Taxon
- Gossypium hirsutum L.Gossypium hirsutume3
- Organ / stage
- seedlinge1
- Treatment
- 200 ppm Zn/CMFe0
- Outcome
- germination performance, seedling vigour, and biomass accumulatione0
- Direction
- enhancede0
- Qualifier
- under moderate and severe PEG-induced drought stresse0
- Comparator
- non-primed controle1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Nanopriming, particularly with 50 ppm Fe/CMF and 200 ppm Zn/CMF, significantly enhanced germination performance, seedling vigour, and biomass accumulation under moderate and severe PEG-induced drought stress”
e1“and a non-primed control, and exposed to three water regimes (0%, 10%, and 15% PEG) to simulate increasing drought severity during germination and early seedling establishment”
e3“improving drought tolerance of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.)”
Claim · model-written summary
Nanoprimed cotton seedlings maintained higher relative water content than non-primed controls under drought
- Taxon
- Gossypium hirsutum L.Gossypium hirsutume3
- Treatment
- nanoprimede2
- Outcome
- RWCe2
- Direction
- highere2
- Comparator
- non-primed controle1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“and a non-primed control, and exposed to three water regimes (0%, 10%, and 15% PEG) to simulate increasing drought severity during germination and early seedling establishment”
e2“nanoprimed seedlings maintained higher RWC, exhibited strongly upregulated antioxidant enzyme activities, accumulated greater proline levels, and showed marked reductions in lipid peroxidation and hydrogen peroxide content”
e3“improving drought tolerance of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.)”
Claim · model-written summary
Nanoprimed cotton seedlings showed strongly upregulated antioxidant enzyme activities under drought compared with non-primed controls
- Taxon
- Gossypium hirsutum L.Gossypium hirsutume3
- Treatment
- nanoprimede2
- Outcome
- antioxidant enzyme activitiese2
- Direction
- strongly upregulatede2
- Comparator
- non-primed controle1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“and a non-primed control, and exposed to three water regimes (0%, 10%, and 15% PEG) to simulate increasing drought severity during germination and early seedling establishment”
e2“nanoprimed seedlings maintained higher RWC, exhibited strongly upregulated antioxidant enzyme activities, accumulated greater proline levels, and showed marked reductions in lipid peroxidation and hydrogen peroxide content”
e3“improving drought tolerance of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.)”
Claim · model-written summary
Nanoprimed cotton seedlings accumulated greater proline levels under drought compared with non-primed controls
- Taxon
- Gossypium hirsutum L.Gossypium hirsutume3
- Treatment
- nanoprimede2
- Outcome
- proline levelse2
- Direction
- greatere2
- Comparator
- non-primed controle1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“and a non-primed control, and exposed to three water regimes (0%, 10%, and 15% PEG) to simulate increasing drought severity during germination and early seedling establishment”
e2“nanoprimed seedlings maintained higher RWC, exhibited strongly upregulated antioxidant enzyme activities, accumulated greater proline levels, and showed marked reductions in lipid peroxidation and hydrogen peroxide content”
e3“improving drought tolerance of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.)”
Claim · model-written summary
Nanoprimed cotton seedlings showed marked reductions in lipid peroxidation and hydrogen peroxide content under drought compared with non-primed controls
- Taxon
- Gossypium hirsutum L.Gossypium hirsutume3
- Treatment
- nanoprimede2
- Outcome
- lipid peroxidation and hydrogen peroxide contente2
- Direction
- marked reductionse2
- Comparator
- non-primed controle1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e1“and a non-primed control, and exposed to three water regimes (0%, 10%, and 15% PEG) to simulate increasing drought severity during germination and early seedling establishment”
e2“nanoprimed seedlings maintained higher RWC, exhibited strongly upregulated antioxidant enzyme activities, accumulated greater proline levels, and showed marked reductions in lipid peroxidation and hydrogen peroxide content”
e3“improving drought tolerance of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.)”
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